Čerga - Balkaneros Band and Travelers

MUSIC IN MY SUITCASE

Performed by BalkanEros Banditos: Haris Abdagić, Aldin Šehić, Almin Redžepović, Sead Solo, Semir Solo, Armen Škobalj, Toni Pešikan

Percussion: Ali A, Ali D, Danial, Ayoub, Jamal, Omar, Jado

Music: Haris Abdagić
Lyrics: Haris Abdagić
Arrangement: Haris Abdagić

Copyright: ©Kuma International 2023

Spotify: https://rb.gy/d5xat
iTunes: https://rb.gy/exmyx

ABOUT THE PROJECT: https://mmk.kumainternational.org

The foundation of the “Music in My Suitcase” project rests on a simple yet profoundly emotional idea: music knows no boundaries; music speaks all languages. While headlines about the migrant crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina are decreasing in the media, the need for understanding and integrating people on the move remains. This is precisely what Kuma International strives to achieve through this innovative initiative. The project’s core concept is to connect people on the move – who leave their homes and heritage behind while escaping conflicts and uncertainty – with the local community through a shared language, such as music. The Kuma International project team, with the local band BalkanEros and migrants from the Ušivak reception center and in cooperation with and financed by CRS, conducted ten music workshops where knowledge about the musical heritages of the migrants’ home countries was transmitted through songs and collaborative music-making. As the workshops’ output, an album of ten songs was recorded. The project culminates in a concert where we meet again with our guests from the temporary migrant camps and where the album is presented. The concert is not merely a musical event; it’s a powerful message about the importance of understanding and support among people. Our guests will hear songs that are more than music, and the origin of these songs takes us along the same “migrant route” crossed by travelers coming to our country.

ABOUT THE SONG:

The frontman of the Balkaneros band and the author of the song Čerga, Haris Abdagić, singles out honorary membership in the Zenica Roma community as his greatest honor in life. That information says enough about this song, and everything else is contained in the lyrics themselves. Although there are not many of them in the current migration flows, the Roma people, as the most numerous nation without a state, were and remain a symbol of migration and nomadic life. The song is a gift to all travelers and an expression of deep identification with them.

LYRICS:

Čerga kupi svoje šatore
Odlazi po volji sudbine
Da osvoji nove prostore
Tonovima pjesme putničke.

Buka teških konjskih kopita
Škripa zahrđalih točkova
Mame me da pođem za njima
U besciljna nova lutanja.

Iako sam ia ja dio njih
Ne mogu sa njima sada poć
Odričem se putovanja teških, sumornih
A moji ljudi odlaze u noć.

Dugo tako gledam za njima
I pitam se tugom shrvan sav
Kako sada dalje živjeti
Daleko od mojih Cigana.